When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually a lag time
or delay before the shutter actually fires. This corresponds to the time required
for the autofocus and autoexposure mechanisms time to do their work, and can
amount to a fairly long delay in some situations. Since this number is rarely
reported on (and even more rarely reported accurately), and can significantly
affect the picture taking experience, I routinely measure both shutter delay
and shot to shot cycle times for all cameras I test, using a test system I designed
and built for the purpose. (Crystal-controlled, with a resolution of 0.001 second.)
Here are the numbers I collected for the Olympus Stylus 410:

Olympus Stylus 410 Timings

Operation

Time
(secs)

Notes

Power On -> First shot

3.2

LCD turns
on and lens extends forward. About average.

Shutdown

2.1 - 11

First time is time to retract
lens, second time is worst-case buffer-clearing time. Buffer clearing
time is reasonable, given that it corresponds to clearing 7 large/fine
shots after a continuous series in continuous shooting mode.

Play to Record, first shot

0.5

Time until
first shot is captured. Fairly fast.

Record to play

3.0 / 0.7

First time is that required
to display a large/fine file immediately after capture, second time
is that needed to display a large/fine file that has already been processed
and stored on the memory card. Somewhat slow.

Shutter lag, full autofocus

0.85 / 0.83

First time is at full wide-angle,
second is full telephoto. About average, faster than average at telephoto
lens settings.

Shutter lag, prefocus

0.094

Time to capture, after half-pressing
shutter button. Very fast.

Cycle Time, max/min resolution

2.03 /
1.88

First number is for large/fine
files, second number is time for "TV" mode (640x480) images.
Times are averages. Continues at this rate seemingly indefinitely in
either mode. Buffer clears in 8 seconds in large/fine mode, and almost
immediately in TV mode. Not blindingly fast, but not bad either for
a compact, basic point & shoot model.

Cycle Time, continuous mode,
max/min resolution

0.49 / 0.48
(2.03 / 2.08 fps)

First number is for large/fine
files, second number is time for "TV" mode (640x480) images.
Times are averages. In large/fine mode, shoots 7 frames this fast, then
slows to an irregular rate of about 2.8 seconds per shot. In TV mode,
continues at this rate indefinitely. Buffer clears in 9 seconds in large/fine
mode, and almost immediately in TV mode. Reasonably fast for a basic point
& shoot model, with reasonable buffer capacity.

Average to slightly better than average performance for a basic
point & shoot model. Compared to other compact digital cameras in
its general category, the Olympus Stylus 410 comes in about even with the
pack, perhaps slightly faster in some areas such as continuous shooting speed
and shutter lag when prefocused. Full autofocus shutter lag is about average,
with a range of 0.83-0.85 second. Shutter response is very fast when the camera
is "prefocused" by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button
before the shot itself. Continuous-mode speed is pretty good, at just over
two frames/second, for up to seven large/fine images.

Pretty good battery life for a compact digital camera. Small digital
cameras often suffer in the battery life department, as there just isn't a
lot of room for a beefy battery inside their tiny cases. The Olympus Stylus
410 does very well in this regard though, with worst-case run times of more
than two hours, stretching to over nine hours (!) when the LCD is left turned
off. (Unfortunately, the poor accuracy of the optical viewfinder means you'll
need to rely much more heavily on the LCD than you might otherwise.)

Storage Capacity

The Olympus Stylus 410 stores its photos on xD memory cards, and
a 32 MB card is included with the camera. (I strongly recommend buying
at least a 64 MB card, preferably a 128 MB one, to give yourself extra space
for extended outings.) The chart below shows how many images can be stored
on the included 32 MB card at each size/quality setting.

Image Capacity vs
Resolution/Quality
32 MB Memory Card

Fine

Normal

2272
x 1704

Images
(Avg size)

11
2.8 MB

33
962 KB

Approx.
Compression

4:1

12:1

2048
x 1536

Images
(Avg size)

40
785 KB

-

Approx.
Compression

12:1

-

1600
x 1200

Images
(Avg size)

49
642 KB

-

Approx.
Compression

9:1

-

1280
x 960

Images
(Avg size)

76
417 KB

-

Approx.
Compression

9:1

-

1024
x 768

Images
(Avg size)

117
272 KB

-

Approx.
Compression

9:1

-

640 x 480

Images
(Avg size)

199
160 KB

-

Approx.
Compression

6:1

-

Download Speed

The Olympus Stylus 410 connects to a host computer via a USB interface. Downloading
files to my Sony desktop running Windows XP (Pentium IV, 2.4 GHz), I clocked
it at 528 KBytes/second, a good if unspectacular rate. (Cameras with slow
USB interfaces run as low as 300 KB/s, cameras with fast v1.1 interfaces run
as high as 600 KB/s. Cameras with USB v2.0 interfaces run as fast as several
megabytes/second.)